Hatch-covers arrangements



Dec. 23, 1958 H. KUMMERMAN HATCH-COVERS ARRANGEMENTS Filed 001:. 3; 1955fiicfi 2,865,319

Patented Dec. 23, 1958 HATCH-COVERS ARRANGEMENTS Henri Kummerman, Paris,France, assignor to International MacGregor Organization (I. M. G. 0.),Casablanca, Morocco, a body corporate of Morocco Application October 3,1955, Serial No. 538,192

Claims priority, application France October 7, 1954 1 Claim. (Cl.114-202) It is an object of this invention to provide improvements inpanels or hatch-cover arrangements of the type comprising elements orsections adapted to roll along the edges of the hatchway or the like, toclose or open same.

It is a first object of this invention to provide means whereby thepanels or sections of the hatch-covers are retracted and concealed underthe ships deck or the like when it is desired to open the hatch.

According to another feature of this invention, the panels or coversections are moved to their stowed positions by sliding or rolling oncorresponding slide or runways.

According to a still other feature of this invention, the arrangementcomprises guideways with or without adequate ramps located beneath thedeck surface or like floor area, opening into the hatchway and adaptedto receive the hatch-cover sections when the hatchways are opened.

The aforesaid guideways comprise horizontal, inclined or verticalsections, or a combination of some or all of these elements.

The joints between the hatch-cover sections and the hatchway coaming oredges are formed by exerting on the said sections an upwardly directedpressure. Control means are provided for this purpose whereby the panelsor cover sections may be raised and lowered, when it is desired toperform the closing and opening of the hatchway.

It is apparent that a considerable advantage is derived from the factthat the deck surface is cleared completely. Consequently the handlingof freight and other operations are greatly facilitated on board.Moreover, the power required for handling the hatch-covers is reduced toa substantial extent since the hatch-cover sections may be moved to andfrom their hatchway closing positions by simply pulling or pushing theminto the stowage space.

According to a complemental feature of this invention the aforesaidcontrol means consist of hydraulic, screw or like jacks mounted on thepanels or along the hatchway edges.

Other features and particulars of this invention will become apparentfrom the following description proceeds with reference to the attacheddrawings forming part of this specification and illustratingdiagrammatically by way of example a few forms of embodiment of theinvention. In the drawings:

Figure l is a diagrammatical section of an improved arrangement;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view showing the hatch-cover section in itsclosed position;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing the hatch-cover sectionready to move to its stowing position;

Figure 4 is another fragmentary view showing a modified embodiment whichmay be necessary if a bulkhead or like wall were located in the vicinityof the hatchway.

In the example shown in Figures 1 to 3 reference numeral 1 designatesthe hatchway, 2 is the deck and 3 the conventional bulkhead of a ship.It is assumed that each one of the hatch-cover sections 4, 4' consistsrespectively of hingedly interconnected elements a, b and a, b. Theseelements are interconnected at 5, 5, as shown. Each element is providedwith wheels or rollers 6, 6' adapted to carry the hatch-cover by rollingalong the edges 7 of the hatchway.

Two compartments 8, 8 having their bottom level defined by runways 9, 9are provided. Laterally and beneath the ships deck 2, ramps 10, 10' arealso provided for connecting the hatchway edge 7 with the runway 9, asshown.

In this example each hatchway element carries lifting jacks 11 or 11.Each element or section a, b comprises two pairs of jacks, each pairbeing mounted along one lateral edge of the element. The arrangement ofthese jacks is clearly shown in Figures 2 and 33. When the jacks are intheir load-supporting condition the hatchcover section is raised, andwhen the jacks are inoperative the wheels engage the runways (see Figure3).

Sealing gaskets 12 are provided and adapted to form a water-tight jointwith the edge 13 of the deck or the hatchway. These gaskets may besupported, if desired, by adequate members 14 carried by the hatch-coversections.

The operation of the arrangement described herein.- above is extremelysimple. In fact, the hatch-cover section 4 illustrated on the left-handside of Figure l is shown in its closed position, i. e. with all thejacks 11 in the position shown in Figure 2. When it is desired to openthe hatchway, the jacks 11 are actuated to lower the hatch-coversections and cause the wheels 6 to engage the runway 7. Thus, thesections will be positioned as shown in Figure 3. It is evident that inthis position the sealing joint consisting of elements 12, 13 and 14-will be opened. Therefore by exerting a thrust on the section 4 in thedirection of arrow f the former may be easily moved to engage the ramp10 and to be brought automatically by the latter to its stowing positionon the bottom 9 of compartment 8.

The right-hand side of Figure 1 shows the position of the relevanthatch-cover section during the hatchway opening operation.

The thrust may be exerted on the section 4 by pulling ropes 15, 15' orin any other suitable manner.

When it is desired to close the hatchway, the hatchcover sections aremoved back by pulling the ropes 115, 15 in the direction opposite tothat indicated by arrow f whereby the elements a and b of the sectionwill run up the ramp 10. In their closed position the jacks 11 areactuated to engage the runways 7 so as to raise the sections and theirrelevant wheels, and the water-tight joint elements 12, 13 and 14 willbecome operative.

Figure 4 shows the specific case in which the stowing space available isinsutficient to permit the complete development of the hatch-coverelements a, b. In the arrangement proposed in this figure it is assumedthat the hatch-cover section 4 is divided into three hingedlyinterconnected elements a, b, c, and in this case the ramp it) is madeslightly longer and followed by avertical space 16 instead of ahorizontal space 8. It will be readily understood that, the hatch-coversection, when moving on the ramp 10 to its stowing compartment 16 willengage the latter with its element 0.

In the examples just described the water-tight joint between thehatch-cover sections and the hatchway edges is formed by raising thesections to the proper level, i. e. flush with the surrounding decksurface, the necessary pressure being exerted in the upwards direction.In hatch-covers of conventional design these joints are generally formedby exerting a pressure in the opposite direction i. e. downwards.

Of course, this invention is not limited to the few 3 embodiments shownand described herein as many modifications and alterations may bebrought thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention, as per the appended claim.

What I claim is:

In a hatch-coverarrangernent for opening and closing hatches on board ofships, in railwaytrucks and like vehicles, comprising a'hatch,withlateral and transverse edges, guideways on the lateral edges of saidhatch, a plurality of laterally aligned solid rectangular coversections, roller means adjacent the corners of the lateral sides of eachof said sections for operative engagement with said guideways,meanspivotally connecting adjacent transverse edges of said coversections, a single flexible means for controlling the displacement ofall of said sec tio-ns along the said guideways to close and open saidhatch, a stowage space for locating said sections when the hatch isopen, said space being situated under the ships deck laterally of saidhatch and at a lower level than the level of saidguideways, guidingmeans in said space for said sections, inclined ramp means connectingsaid guiding means and guideways, sealing means on all of said sectionsadapted to form a water-tight joint with said edges on said hatch andlifting means comprising jacks at each corner of each cover sectionoperating between said guideways and sections, located along the lateraledges of said hatch and leaving the hatch opening References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 294,108 Ballard .Feb.26,1884 956,152 Oldham Apr. 26, 1910 1,653,631 Kirkland Dec. '27, 19271,656,089 Trouwborst et'al W Jan. 10, 1928 1,795,016 Faber Mar. 3, 19312,124,970 Bagley July 26, 1938 2,141,180 'Geddes Dec. 27, 1938 2,386,702McBride Oct. .9, 1945 2,657,661 Robson No-v. 3,1953 2,707,928 FarrellMay 10, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 46,584 Netherlands Sept. 15, 1939 466,466Great Britain May 28, 1937

